Overview Bronx Night Market is a free food and culture festival held twice a year on the Grand Concourse at 161st Street, in the business district outside Yankee Stadium and the Bronx courthouse. The spring date opens Bronx Week in May and the fall date closes the season in October. It grew out of the market Marco Shalma co-founded in 2017, which by its final Fordham Plaza season in 2025 had hosted more than 1,200 small businesses and over a million visitors. We Eat Here produces it with the 161st Street Business Improvement District, and the Bronx borough president and the local council member back it. On site The market runs from noon to 7 p.m. along the BID corridor. More than 50 vendors set up in 10-by-10 booths selling food, drinks, merchandise and artisan goods, with around ten local musicians and cultural performers on the program and a dozen sponsor activations mixed in among the stalls. Entry is free, and guests who RSVP are entered in a raffle for food, drink and merchandise prizes. Every vendor is listed in the market's vendor directory. Audience The crowd is Bronx residents plus visitors from across the city, and the market bills itself as family-friendly. The market became known for championing Black, Brown, immigrant and women-owned vendors, and the Fordham Plaza run served food from more than 40 countries. Some vendors outgrew it: Barrel House, a Colombian stall, later expanded citywide. Track record The first market ran as a modest open-air gathering in 2017 and became a monthly Saturday series at Fordham Plaza. Its last season there, in 2025, ran five dates from June to October. The market then reset in 2026 as two festivals a year at 161st Street, the first on May 9, 2026, as the opening of Bronx Week. Brand presence Partners buy in at three levels. A booth partner gets a 10-by-10 space, signage and a listing in the vendor directory. The next level adds social posts and stories and a spot in the market's email to local followers. The top level adds a written feature on New York Eats Here, the producer's own food-media site, and a post-event report with attendance, demographics and engagement. Sampling, product demos, installations and a brand lounge or hospitality area can be built on request. Optimum, amNY, Wonder and Green Mountain Energy were listed as sponsors on the 2026 site.